Tinnitus is nothing new. But perhaps it’s new to you, like a loud used car you can’t take back. Normally, though not always, tinnitus presents as an incessant buzzing or ringing in the ears. The sound can be, at times, really loud. Symptoms fluctuate considerably, but this is the point: if tinnitus is troubling you, you might be searching for some new ways to deal with your symptoms.
The good news is that new therapies and treatment options are being developed that aren’t cures for tinnitus but can help you deal with it. Your tongue is even involved in certain of those therapies.
Most Recent Approaches to Tinnitus
Arguably the newest tinnitus treatment that we’ve seen appears to offer a lot of promise, even if it appears a little strange initially. Both the tongue and the ear are stimulated with this device designed at the Trinity School of Medicine in Dublin. Bi-modal neurostimulation is the technical term for this approach.
The results were rather striking with this device based on the first tests. 12 weeks was about how long most people were treated. Within those 12 months, those same individuals observed a dramatic decrease in tinnitus symptoms. But this type of therapy is still in testing and not extensively available yet.
How Can I Get Relief From my Tinnitus Now?
Of course, it takes a while for technology to go from research and development to patient availability. So perhaps you’re curious about what can be done now to help deal with your tinnitus.
Fortunately, there are some newer tinnitus therapy devices available today. And one of the best new ways to manage tinnitus is something you’ve probably already heard of: your hearing aid.
It works like this:
External sounds are enhanced by hearing aids. When you start to lose your hearing, the sounds of the outside world get quieter and that can make the internal sounds of tinnitus become louder. A hearing aid can raise the volume on the rest of the audio spectrum. By boosting the volume of outside sounds, your tinnitus sounds will often vanish into the background.
There is a sound masking device similar to a modern hearing aid. If your hearing loss is relatively moderate, then a masking device may be the best way to address your symptoms. A masking device basically looks like a hearing aid. And many hearing aids can be augmented with masking technology. This technology can produce sounds designed to mask your tinnitus symptoms. At times this will be a tone, in other situations, it may be some white noise. Whatever will best hide the ringing in your ears.
Of course, this is just a starting point. We can help you discover the best choice for you so get in touch with us.